A couple of weeks ago I asked you to take a survey to help me evaluate this blog. Thank you so much for your responses and your feedback!

Here are some general statistics I’ve gathered form the survey:

• More women than men read my blog.

• You might have wondered why I asked for age, it gives me a general idea of what season of life you might be in. The largest age bracket was 35-44.

• 60% of people that responded subscribe to my blog. That means that 40% of you don’t. If you are not a subscriber, go ahead and sign up. You’ll get new posts delivered directly in your inbox.

• 82% of responders think blogging twice a week is just right.

• The two topics that stood out as the ones you are more interested in were special needs (83%) followed by faith (60%).

Some surprises were that there is more interest in marriage posts as opposed to adoption posts, and that you would like to see me address faith issues more often. But I also asked about other topics you would like me to cover. Here are some of the suggestions I got (I grouped them based on the similarities):

– Write more about your everyday life, share personal stories as you parent your kids with special needs, and how to balance life, jobs, illness, marriage.

– Write about parenting kids without special needs and how to teach them about kids and people with disabilities.

-Write more about faith

– Write more about the beauty of God’s love in your broken situations (I loved this comment, because I’ve been thinking I need to focus more on finding beauty in brokenness)

• I asked which blog posts you were least likely to read, and the responses were so diverse that it was hard to see themes or patterns emerge. The one more consistent response was that long posts are harder to read and only get skimmed through.

• I asked why you read my blog. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this question. Here are sme comments (I grouped them based on similarities)

– Because you are a Christian and you parent kids with special needs

– Because you are real and honest

– Because I feel encouraged and understood as I parent children with disabilities

– Because you are a pastor’s wife and you struggle like everyone else, you are not afraid to expose your flaws, you are not perfect, but trying to find beauty in your brokenness.

– Because of your positive view on disability

– Because I am in ministry too

• Most people that responded would be interested in a devotional for special needs parents (ebook)

• Most people liked the idea of doing a monthly video (2-3 minutes) where I answer your questions. I’m going to need your help!

• Your suggestions and comments in the last question were a gift. Thank you all for your positive encouragement and for your honest feedback. your words of affirmation touched me, and your willingness to be open with suggestions is something I appreciate more than you know.

I used to keep up with a personal blog where I told more personal stories about my family. I started this blog and I have not brought many of those everyday stories here. You want those, they help you connect with me better, I hear you, and I will do my best to tell more of those stories.

When you signed up for my blog, you did so because you wanted to hear more about my, “Confessions of a pastor’s wife,” church, ministry, and you were especially hoping I addressed issues of special needs and disability withing the church and the faith community. Thank you for sharing those comments with me.

As for perhaps having my husband guest post, I will try but cannot make any promises. However, this coming Friday my father-in-law contributed to my post, so keep your eyes open, he is also a pastor (40 years in ministry) and has great wisdom to share.

Thank you so much for answering the survey. It helped to find direction as I’m blogging, and helped me see how I am connecting with you. Ultimately, I want you to find encouragement when you come here. I want you to find hope when you stop by, and to know that you are not alone. Most of all, I want you to find beauty amidst the brokenness of life.